Buying a home

A home is one of the biggest purchases you will make in your lifetime. It can be an intimidating and emotional process to buy a home. This is why it’s important to enlist the services of someone who will work for you, a trusted advisor. At Cherry Pick Homes, you will have three agents working for you! We will not take for granted that you know all the ins and outs of buying a home and will use our expertise and experience to make the process as stress-free as possible for you.

As licensed realtors, we have the education and expertise to guide you through your purchase. We are guided and bound by a Code of Ethics and committed to represent your best interests, with confidentiality and full disclosure. We have extensive knowledge of the market, can provide you with exclusive access to the Multiple Listing Service, and are skilled negotiators. We will learn your needs, wants and budget to make recommendations and save you time and effort. At Cherry Pick Homes, we will always act with the highest level of service, honesty and integrity, and we’ll always make sure the process is fun!

How will Cherry Pick Homes help you buy the right house at the right price?

Why is it important to have your financing in place before looking for a home?

How Cherry Pick Homes will help you buy the right home at the right price.

First and foremost, by making available to you every property in the marketplace that suits your identified needs and lifestyle, whether your timeline is tomorrow, 6 months from now or longer. We will happily work with you until together, we find the right home for you.

The first step is sitting down and reviewing with you what you want and need from your new home. We’ll ask a lot of questions to better understand your needs, including the following:

what is your goal in buying a home – is it a home to see you through a specific period of time, an investment property, your dream home…

what type of home are you looking for – detached, semi-detached, condo apartment…

how many bedrooms and bathrooms, what is the living space you need

do you prefer a specific neighbourhood

do you want a home that is completely updated or are you willing and interested in doing some updates yourself

what is your timeline

do you want to be near schools, near work, the water, shopping, restaurants

do you currently own a home and will you be buying before you sell, or selling after you buy

do you have your financing in place and if not, we’ll help you get the pre-approval process started

Once we have established your criteria, we will include you in our list of preferred clients who receive personalized emails of new listings that meet your specific criteria. These email notices are generated immediately as listings happen and give you an advantage over buyers who are not working with a realtor. As we all identify properties that are of interest, we’ll book showings and look at the pros and cons of each home with you. We won’t try to ‘sell’ you a home. Our goal is to educate you about the market so you will understand the value of a property.

When we find the right home for you, we’ll help you through the next steps.

we’ll prepare a market analysis of the property and neighbourhood advising you of all the details to help you make an informed buying decision

we will determine the best price and terms for the house you choose

we will prepare and review with you the Agreement of Purchase and Sale, creating and negotiating an offer to protect your interests

upon acceptance, we’ll help ensure all conditions are fulfilled to your satisfaction, advising and recommending reputable professionals to get you through all the steps necessary to close confidently. (It’s once conditions are fulfilled, that the sale is ‘firm’.)

we’ll get all the paperwork to the necessary people to ensure a smooth closing day and help you understand what you can expect

as you approach moving day, we are just a phone call away for anything you might need including recommending a reputable moving company

How long you can expect the buying process to take.

Buying a home can take as little as a week, to whenever! It depends on you, your timeline and how prepared you are to purchase (is your financing in place for example; is your current home sold/ready for sale). Generally, homes can be found within two months of starting your search. We’ll be beside you, every step of the way.

Why it’s important to have your financing in place before looking for a home.

Being pre-qualified for a mortgage before you start shopping for a home will help you avoid possible disappointments down the road. We don’t want you to fall in love with a place, then find out you can’t afford it. Additionally, once you do find the perfect home, it will mean you can make an offer immediately. Showing sellers that you have the financing you need is an advantage over other competing buyers. An offer from a pre-approved buyer is more attractive to a seller.

A pre-approval allows you to hold the current interest rate for an extended period of time. If mortgage rates go up during that time you are protected, but if they go down, you will get the lower interest rate. The pre-approval will outline the maximum purchase price and qualified mortgage amount based on your down payment, credit and income. Most lending institutions won’t allow more than about 30% of your income to support a mortgage. If you have other debts, they usually won’t allow your debts and your mortgage to exceed 40% of your income. You’ll be able to look for a home with the security of knowing exactly how much you have to spend.